Second chances
by hoshi-ni-onegai
Summary: Kaoru wakes up to a strange room and a strange red head. Possible canon tie. KxK. Vampire fic.


Author Notes: Okay, so I got a little carried away with this vignette. It was supposed to be simple, but I've convoluted it with possible canon ties. I apologize. This is going to be a one-shot. I know, I know. With the way this is left hanging, you would think there would be more -but there won't be. Also, just a side note. Himura is a common name in Japan. I have no intention of making Kaoru and Kenshin relatives (not a big fan of the incest). So, read it through and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.

**Second chances**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru groaned. Her head throbbed and she her mouth felt like she had cotton balls in it. Sitting up in bed she cradled her head. The last time she had a hang-over this bad was back in college when she decided that tequila and wine was the best non-diluted sangria concoction ever.

The odd thing was, she couldn't remember drinking the night before. The last thing she could recall was driving home from a particularly awful day at work. Had she cracked open the bottle of vodka in her freezer and indulged herself into a drunken stupor?

Cracking open her eyes she frowned. The room was pitch dark. There was no light streaming in from any corner of the room, not even the glowing red numbers from her alarm clock. Was there a black out? And had she slept away the day and she was already in the next night?

Carefully balancing herself she decided to get a glass of water. She had never felt this thirty in her life. It felt like she hadn't had anything to drink in weeks. She fumbled through the dark instead of turning on the lamp on the nightstand.

After taking the familiar steps toward the door she reached for the door handle but felt nothing. Frowning, she took a few steps forward. Instead of encountering the door that she could have sworn she left there the day before, she stubbed her toe on a large unknown piece of furniture.

Letting out a painful yell she curled down and cradled her foot. That's when she heard a door open -a door that was situated on the complete opposite side of the room. The light flicked on and with a flash of red, a pair of golden eyes peered down at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes widened. She glanced around the offending room and looked down at her clothes. This was not her room and the over-sized grey shirt and black boxers were not hers either.

She brought her gaze back onto the man with golden eyes. Glaring at him accusingly she looked him over. His long messy thick red hair was tied at the back of his neck and he sported a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. His jeans and button-up shirt showed that he was lean, but the way he composed himself indicated an understated strength.

Injured toe forgotten, Kaoru glared at him further. The fact that she found him attractive was not the question. The question was: "Who the hell are you?"

Seeing that she was fine, he visibly relaxed but let a knowing smirk tug at his lips. "You don't remember?"

Her drunken blackout moments were few and far between. But when she did blackout, she had a tendency not to remember anything -like the time she woke up in Sano's bathtub wearing a pirate costume in July. So whatever had happened the night before was a mystery, and she planned to keep it that way. There was no need in recalling her drunken promiscuity to her more sane sober side.

She stood up and shrugged. Feeling light-headed she made her way back to the bed and sat down. "Look, whatever happened last night... consider it a good time with no attachments," she said. "And if I was terrible, I apologize and I'm sorry if I snored."

Tilting his to the side he studied her. She furrowed her brows; he had no right to study her. He had studied her the night before and he had gotten a show that strangers never got -he should be happy that he got an easy lay, not scrutinizing her.

"You really don't remember do you?" he smiled an alarmingly charming smile. "Then again most people don't."

Kaoru rolled her eyes, "What? You think you're a god between the sheets that women's minds and literally blown away? Don't be so full of yourself buddy."

Noticing her purse sitting at the foot of the nightstand she went to go reach for it, but stumbled and lost her balance. He caught her a few centimeters before she hit the hardwood floor. Facing up into his face she realized she had her hand fisted in his shirt. Grinning down at her, he slowly set her on the edge of the bed. "We didn't sleep together."

The cogs in her head started moving and when she came to the realization of her misunderstanding she blushed. "Oh god. You're here being 'the good guy' who took care of a silly drunk girl, and I'm accusing you of sleeping with me."

"You weren't drunk."

Confusion ran across her face. Kaoru had a tendency to reveal every inclination of emotion on her face -a downfall of hers when she played poker. "How do you explain the hangover then?"

"Headache, dry mouth, and dizziness?"

She nodded.

"But no nausea right?"

She frowned, "I don't always get nausea with hangovers."

He shrugged, "You wouldn't this time, because it's not a hangover." Standing up he extended out his hand.

She studied it for a moment, expecting it to bite her; but took it anyways. As he led her out of the room and down the hall, she was glad she had his hand to hold onto. She had actually proceeded to cling to his upper arm -she barely had the strength to walk. Seeing her struggle, he easily lifted her up and walked the rest of the way.

"I don't need to be carried," she huffed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, regardless of her words.

Not giving a word of response, he quickly took her into the kitchen and set her down on the island. She frowned. With three empty bar stools around the kitchen, you would think that he would give her the common courtesy of sitting her on one.

The strange man left her on the kitchen island while he rummaged through a refrigerator full of wine bottles. Kaoru's eyes widened. She had always considered herself a wino, but this guy took the cake. She did, however, know better than to store red wine in the fridge. Red was always best served at room temperature, but this guy seemed to only drink red and only drink it cold.

He finally pulled out a bottle that already seemed opened. He easily pulled the cork out and the moment he did, she began to drool. How was it even possible that she could smell it fifteen feet away? She had also never smelled something so delicious in her life. She could only suspect a keen culinary mind on the man's part -or drugs. She concluded that it had to be drugs, but with her parched throat and the wafting aroma -she would down the entire bottle. All those years of being to told to "just say no" went straight down the proverbial toilet. She could almost taste the wine slithering its way down her throat and she could not wait.

Getting a tall pint glass instead of a dinky wine class, he poured the contents of the bottle to the brim of the glass. She watched with surprise as he brought the glass over to her. Either he knew nothing of wine etiquette, or he saw the way she was salivating over it.

He handed her the glass, "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."

She wouldn't have thought twice about it, but she figured that any liquid concoction from a stranger warranted a bit of questioning. "I'm going to feel better as in I'm going to get drunk."

He shook his head, "It's not alcohol."

She raised a brow and looked down at the thick red liquid. From what she could tell, this did not look like any wine she had ever had. It looked more like strawberry syrup or cough medicine; the most delicious smelling deep-red cough medicine that is.

She figured she gave the pretence of scrutinizing the drink enough and gave into her cravings. As the liquid coated her tongue she thought she had died and gone to heaven. It was like rich velvet caressing her senses and she drowned out her surroundings.

Her thirst was immediately quenched and her headache instantly vanished. There was something completely seductive about the drink, and she was ready to propose and marry it if she could.

As she neared the end, she noticed that the liquid was too thick and coated the sides of the glass. She wasn't sure what had driven her to do what she did next. She squeezed the glass until it creaked under the pressure and shattered. Without using any of her better judgment she hopped off the island and picked up a large piece of glass and licked the coating off. Various times she felt her tongue slicing open on the shards, but she was beyond herself and could not stop.

Just as she was about to start licking the smaller pieces, ones that would most liked travel down her throat and do a number on her stomach lining, the man stopped her. He held both her wrist in an iron grip and locked eyes with her. She tried to pull her arms free. Kaoru could feel herself getting hysterical but she didn't know how to stop it, nor did she want to.

She glared at him. She couldn't utter any words as they had left her the moment the first drop of the drink had touched her tongue. She yelled in frustration, but stopped when he purposefully bit down on his bottom lip.

As a small bead of blood rested on his lip her eyes widened. There it was. That smell. The same as the drink.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she captured his lips. She had no idea why he tasted like the greatest thing ever created. He tasted much better than the drink -if that was even possible. She felt him respond to the kiss and soon felt his tongue slip past her own lips. She didn't care. This moment seemed like it would sear her soul. She welcomed it as long as she could feel as complete as she did at that moment.

After a few heated minutes, the taste receded. Kaoru no longer felt the lust for the flavor that danced on her tongue, but continued to kiss the man. Her sanity crept back into her as his lips feathered its way across her jaw and down her neck.

Words finally returned to her as she slowly blinked open her eyes. Gazing lazily up at the ceiling as he performed a number on her nerves and neck, she whispered. "What did you do to me?"

He pulled back slowly and studied her face, "It hasn't come back to you yet?"

She frowned; this man seemed to have a mission in life to be mysterious. Mystery, she felt, was overrated. "Who are you?"

Bringing a calloused hand up to ghostly stroke her neck he gazed into her cerulean eyes with his golden ones. "You were in a car accident."

She laughed, "Yeah right."

He shook his head, "The roads were slick last night from the rain. You hydroplaned and hit a telephone pole."

A flash of images ran across her mind. The radio streaming out an overly played song. The windshield wipers swishing back and forth. The hum of her car engine as she drove down the city street. The cat that darted into the street. Jerking the steering wheel to avoid the creature, then losing control.

Her car coasting down the abandoned street. Spinning with an uncontrollable force and her eyes widening as she saw a telephone pole rush toward her. Then her world collided as the driver's side door was swashed in.

She felt the whiplash. She felt the blood trickling down from the large gash on the side of her head. Her left arm was shattered -unmovable. Her ears rang. Her mind was numb. She could only hear the constant drumming of raindrops on the roof of her car.

The headlights of her car shined against the building wall. She gazed through her cracked windshield just looking at the rain droplets reflecting in the light. Her mind slowed. She could barely breathe. Her voice clogged in her throat.

She heard a murmured echo. She blinked slowly and turned her head to the passenger side. The door was ripped open and the echo was a bit loader, but no less murmured. Her eyes focused momentarily and all she saw was a gaze of gold surrounded by dripping locks of red hair. Tentative calloused hands swept over her body and over the large shard of glass perturbing from her abdomen. She could feel her strength leaving her. Determined and sorrowful eyes locked with hers as they leaned in toward her neck. She felt two sharp points graze her jugular before she blacked out.

Her wits back to her, Kaoru eyes widened and pushed off the man she had been completely seduced by before. The man with the golden gaze. "What happened?"

He approached her but she shrugged his arms away.

Her unforgiving glare rooted him to his spot, "You were dying."

"What did you do to me?"

"There was no other way."

She shook her head, tears springing her eyes. "What did you do to me!"

"I made you into what walks only at night," he shamefully looked up at her. "You are my childe now."

She glared. This was ridiculous. This was the thing of stories of creatures that go bump in the night. Cheesy movies with Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson. This did not happen to well-meaning women on their way home from work.

Confused and seething she gripped the front of her shirt, "What am I?"

"The undead," he slowly made his way toward her and reached out his hand. His calloused fingers traced over the two puncture wounds on her neck once again. "A vampire."

Her legs gave out from under her and she fell sitting on the floor. He kneeled down with her as she searched her eyes for a trace of hope, but there was none. What he had said was true, and her life had ended.

Tears streaming down her face she gulped down a stubborn knot in her throat. "I had so much time left. I was only twenty-four."

He leaned his forehead on hers and sighed, "And you'll be twenty-four forever, as I have been twenty-eight since the Meiji era."

She sobbed. She sobbed for hours. He pulled her into the bed and cradled her as he allowed her to mourn her own life. When she finally quieted she couldn't fall asleep.

"Hey."

The man glanced down at the calm, but still saddened woman in his arms. "Yes?"

"Why did you turn me? Why me?"

He sighed, "I've known you longer than you think. I met you when I was still alive."

Kaoru frowned and sat up. She looked down at the laying man. "How is that possible? You died over a century ago."

He smiled sadly and twirled a lock of her hair. "You don't believe me."

She shook her head, "How can I?"

Locking eyes with her he shrugged, "Then how would I know that your name is Kamiya Kaoru?"

Her eyes widened with surprise and confusion, "My name is Kaoru, but I'm not Kamiya."

It was his turn to frown. Sitting up as well, he studied her face, "Then what are you?"

"Himura. Himura Kaoru."

The whispered name filled a spot in him that he didn't know existed. He leaned his head against her shoulder, hiding his face from her. The name that he had wanted to give her all those years ago and was unable to. She was a Himura. She finally bore his name.

He felt her tugging on his hair to grab his attention. Looking up at her he smiled, "Yes Mrs. Himura?"

"Mrs.?" She raised a brow, and then shook her head. "What's your name?"

He let a sly smirk cross his lips. He wished there had been another way. A way for him to become human and live with her in this time, but what's done is done. This would be their time together now.

He leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth, Kaoru did not recoil or protest.

"Himura. Himura Kenshin. Not a rurouni. Not a hitokiri. Just Kenshin," his eyes calmed into a comforting amethyst and he sighed contentedly. "And I won't ever leave you."


End file.
